Her pregnancy has continued to baffle her doctors, as she had been told that it would be impossible for her to have children.

Her vaginas lay right next to the other.

Doctors said Krista Schwab would never get pregnant because of complications caused by her rare condition called uterus didelphys.

The horse trainer, who was diagnosed when she was 12, has two vaginas, two cervixes and two wombs.But as she considered IVF, she suddenly discovered to her amazement that she was expecting.

Krista, from Washington, USA, said: “After being diagnosed with uterine didelphys at 12 years old, I knew I had two uteruses and two cervixes.

“But when I was 30, I found out that I also have two vaginas that are side by side. I always felt the separate sections during intercourse and smear tests, but I just thought that feeling was a normal thing every woman had.

“For so many years, my husband and I cried, prayed and dreamed of having a child. We both had so many breakdowns because we wanted one so much.

“After probably 1,000 negative pregnancy tests, it got to the point where I gave up wishing anymore.

“Last December, I put on weight; so I bought my billionth pregnancy test which my husband and I thought was just now a waste of money.

“I normally pray and hope while I wait, but this time, I lost all hope and didn’t bother. Then I saw it – it was positive. I hit the floor crying.”

Aged just 13, doctors had warned Krista that she could never have children. Then, two years ago, she learned she also had two vaginas as part of the condition.

She added: “It was a massive shock, especially for my husband! Doctors and I couldn’t see it because it was too far inside.

“Sex is extremely sensitive and can hurt – it affects my sex life and my self-confidence.”

She suffered two miscarriages as her and husband Courtney, 33, gave up hope of a child.

“However my husband and I joke around about it all the time.“I actually got pregnant when I was 15 and 20, but I had miscarriages for both.“When I met my husband at 20 years old, I told him I couldn’t have kids. So, the whole time I’ve been together with my husband, we didn’t use protection.”

Krista is now five months pregnant and expecting a baby boy, which is growing in her left womb.

Most women with uterine didelphys have to have C-section, but Krista is hopeful she might not need one.

She added: “Because of my two vaginas, the baby will have to come down the left side vagina.

“Doctors think I’ll have to have a C-section, but I’m dreaming of a natural water birth.

“It’s incredible because doctors still don’t understand it. The fact that I’m pregnant on the left side and it’s impossible for the egg to get there.

“I am scared that he will get stuck, one vagina is much smaller, if they were both one vagina it’d be a normal size.

“Ten years of trying to have a baby, it just happened. I want women with uterine didelphys to never let anyone tell them miracles can’t happen, because they do.”

Dr. Nick Raine-Fenning, spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said: “The uterus forms in-utero by the fusion of two tubes, which are called the Mullerian ducts.”

Let's say Bill Gates didn't wake up each morning with a net worth of more than $76 billion.

Let's say he had just $2. What would the founder of Microsoft do then?

"Just about anyone who's living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens," Gates wrote in a recent Gates Notes blog post.

That's right. He'd raise chickens.

By Gates' calculations, the animals cost just $5 in most West African countries. So by spending $2 a day, he could feasibly assemble a flock of 12 chickens in about a month (if he devoted all his money to that goal). Several months later, he'd have dozens of chicks to raise into full-grown money-making machines — and that would put him above the poverty line by a wide margin.

Gates wants to help families in need do just that. In the blog post, he points to his recent partnership with Heifer International, a charity that donates livestock in an effort to combat poverty around the world.

"Our foundation is betting on chickens," Gates writes. "Our goal: to eventually help 30 percent of the rural families in sub-Saharan Africa raise improved breeds of vaccinated chickens, up from just 5 percent now."

The birds offer a cheap and easy way for poor families to dramatically increase their income, since they can sell, trade, or eat the meat, or use live chickens as currency to pay for tools or services.

"These chickens are multiplying on an ongoing basis, so there's no investment that has a return percentage anything like being able to breed chickens," Gates told reporters at a recent event about the partnership, which is called Coop Dreams.

He references the old parable of teaching a man to fish rather than just giving him one. "The parable could've been stated in terms of giving somebody a chicken," Gates says.

As long as farmers keep their chickens healthy — vaccines for the deadly Newcastle disease cost just 20 cents, Gates points out — they can use the revenue to finance purchases of larger livestock, such as cows or goats.

Like chickens, these animals offer year-round yields. Instead of waiting on crops to come back into season, farmers can use eggs, milk, and meat as steady streams of income — not to mention nutrition. If someone like Gates were raising a family on a very low income, he explains, chickens could provide cognitive benefits to children whose brains are still developing.

"Malnutrition kills more than 3.1 million children a year," he writes. "If a farmer's flock is big enough to give her extra eggs, or if she ends up with a few broken ones, she may decide to cook them for her family."

So while $2 might not sound like much, the right entrepreneurial spirit and training could turn a few chickens into a real shot at self-sufficiency.

This is the hair-raising moment an inebriated labourer miraculously survived jumping into the lion enclosure at an Indian zoo singing "Please come to me my darling".video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQvf3fw_EzY

Five members of the same family were charged with the murder of a prophet who had been called to their their home in the village of Mazonde, Zimbabwe to help them cleanse their house of evil spirits.

According to local newspaper, Zed 24 News, the accused family identified as Leanmore Mutero, Tonderai Muswere, Michael Muchengeti, Manasa Mutero and Nicholas Mutero, appeared at the High Court in Harare facing a murder charge for participating in the death of self-professed Prophet Shamiso Kanyama, who accidentally died during a healing ceremony.

Pastor Kanyama had reportedly asked his followers to bury him alive so that he could summon more cleansing powers to heal the family that had been plagued by mysterious deaths.

Zed 24 News reports that High Court Justice Owen Tagu heard how on that day, the late pastor had been invited to attend the home in the Muzarabani district, which is situated along the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border, by their priest, Zvidzai Muchengeti.

The five men had requested the priest to help them clean their home of evil spirits, because it was causing mysterious deaths in their family.

Responding to their request to perform a healing ceremony, Kanyama had ordered his followers to dig a grave and bury him alive because that was the way he summoned more healing powers to ward off evil spirits. However, the plan backfired on the prophet when instead of being resurrected as he supposed, the men dug up the grave again to find him dead.

Kanyama helped to dig his own grave before praying and jumping inside, Father Zvidzai, who has turned State witness, told the High Court. He continued that after laying face down in the grave, he ordered his followers to start covering him with soil.

“He pegged a grave-shaped pit in front of my hut and asked for help to dig the pit,” Zvidzai continued. “Deceased requested to be buried alive so that he would gain power to drive away the evil forces.”

Fearing for the life of the prophet as the men were in the process of filling the grave, he requested the men to stop what they were doing, Joseph Taderera told Justice Tagu.

However, they ignored his pleas when Kanyama urged them to continue the process of burying him alive, stating that he would rise from the grave unharmed.

“I warned the men about the danger of their actions, but my advice fell on deaf ears because Kanyama shouted, telling me that I am disturbing his angels, and urged them to continue filling the grave, saying that he would later come out alive,” Taderera said.

It beats me hallow to hear you say you attended the best school in the world.Hell No!!!,that should be a pseudo-Best school in your demented mind.Because your first reaction to this post gives you out as a tout or political thug trying to defend an irrational posit.That you're not even coherent is minus on your profile which means your father laboured in vain because you went to mushroom school.But, in your reckoning, it's was school at least you can write your father's name and that's where your pseudo-best school in the world ends.So joining issues with you about public probity,accountability and function of state institutions is far far beyond your capacity and level.Nevertheless,one of the bane of Nigeria's underdevelopment and backwardness is the emergence of ignoramus of your type who pride themselves as graduate with useless A4 Paper as certificate but in real sense are liability to the society because you are anthropologically too poor to discern the concept of time on how an ideal society can be modelled..Best School in world my foot.Say that to pigs in the piggery..Nonsense

jeyselassie:well thanks for the insult but i actually stay in maitama whenever im in abuja and im aware of the house for sale. I went to one of the best schools in d world that taught me not to argue with sm1 who has nothing to lose cuz I will come down to their level. Have a nice evening.

Must crime be committed before Tax officer,EFCC or police man knocks on your door? illiterates and demented minds can never grasp the concept of an ideal society and its evolution.or how state institutions intervene to prevent citizens from existing in free state of nature.That a citizens calls for public discourse on issues bothering on public probity and accountability is a plus for this forum and public enlightenment.So before you reply to public discourse,read very "WELL"with a standard dictionary in one hand because obviously you are not well schooled in the art of reading and assimilating basic write-up.Maybe your level of exposure doesn't exceeds the confine of your God forsaking village where your demented father cannot even afford to send to you to standard school..Boring Ashole

jeyselassie:Please theres nothing wrong. This house is cheap sef. Is it every house u see that has corruption underneath? What were ur fathers doing when these men were working? Whether u lyk it or not these kinda deals go down everyday. Tinubus house in ikoyi is worth 1 billion oya go and hug transformer. U call it a house these men call it asset. Havent u herd when the court asks for a house in asokoro as a bail condition? And u asked what it is being used for. It is being used to fry garri.

Sickening! There we go again..A typical Nigerian attitude to public probity and accountability.In a saner clime,the tax man will be knocking on both seller and buyer doors to know how far with their income tax records and nature of their businesses..Probing an issue doesn't translate to commission of crime or conviction..We Nigerians should get more involved in governance and shield the shackles of ignorance to move this country forward...This advert could lead to huge can of worms ..you never can tell.,

adewaletb3:In a way its worth it. Why the probing? Its surely gonna belong to some rich dude.

I stumbled on this advert while reading e-vanguard newspaper online.To be sure,am not Mr.kill joy..But i think EFCC should trace this property to ascertain who owns it,his business and income tax records...The change we crave for cannot be attained without our contribution and collective efforts..Maybe EFCC and other security agency should call the phone number on this advert ..Buhari alone cannot do it..

(CNN)It was a problem that had baffled mathematicians for centuries -- until British professor Andrew Wiles set his mind to it.

"There are no whole number solutions to the equation xn + yn = zn when n is greater than 2."

Otherwise known as "Fermat's Last Theorem," this equation was first posed by French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in 1637, and had stumped the world's brightest minds for over 300 years. Professor Andrew Wiles in front of a version of Fermat's Theorem.

In the 1990s, Oxford professor Andrew Wiles finally solved the problem, and this week was awarded the hugely prestigious 2016 Abel Prize -- including a $700,000 windfall.

The prize, often described as the Nobel of mathematics, was awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, with an official ceremony featuring Crown Prince Haakon of Norway to take place in May.

"Wiles is one of very few mathematicians -- if not the only one -- whose proof of a theorem has made international headline news," said the Abel Committee.

"In 1994 he cracked Fermat's Last Theorem, which at the time was the most famous, and long-running, unsolved problem in the subject's history."Wiles, 62, first became fascinated with the theorem as a 10 year old growing up in Cambridge, England, after finding a copy of Fermat's Last Theorem at his local library.

"I knew from that moment that I would never let it go," he said. "I had to solve it."

He spent seven years intensively working on the equation in secret while at Princeton University, finally cracking it in 1994 by combining the three complex mathematical fields of modular forms, elliptic curves, and Galois representations.

"I was very lucky that not only did I solve the problem, but I opened the door for a whole new era in my field," said Wiles.

(CNN)When it comes to crossing international frontiers, there's one travel document that opens more doors than any other.

And it isn't a U.S. passport.

German citizens, it seems, have the potential for the greatest mobility in the travel world.With a German passport, travellers can enter 177 out of 218 countries and territories without a visa, according to the 2016 Visa Restrictions Index.

The list, compiled annually since 2006 by London-based consulting firm Henley and Partners and the International Air Transport Association, ranks nations by how freely their citizens, unencumbered by immigration red tape, can explore the planet.

This year, it shows that citizenship of a superpower doesn't carry the clout it once did.

The United States, which ranked first in 2014 and 2015, has now dropped to fourth place.

Immediately behind Germany, holding its position as runner-up for the second year running, is Sweden with visa-free access to 176 countries.

MORE: World's best city for expats revealed

Finland, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom -- which had topped the list since 2013 -- are now tied for third place, making Northern and Western European citizens the most privileged in international travel.

Japan and South Korea were also among the group in the top three in 2014 and 2015, but have slid down to fifth and sixth place respectively this year.

Belgium, Denmark and Netherlands stand alongside the U.S. in fourth.

At the bottom of the list, labelled countries with the "worst passports," are Afghanistan, at 104, followed by Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria.

Back in secondary school days,i was the social prefect..,one experience that will linger for a life time because it was fun all through.But sincerely my personality is that of an introvert because am very solitary in nature.So as a social prefect,it was really a huge challenge because it really runs contrary to my personality.

Imported From Europe original and now available at Wholesales prices. Different types of Accessroies,Cover,Powerbanks for latest phone and tablet,iphone,ipad,computer and allied information technology products e.t.c,Contact ICON CONTINENTAL GLOBAL SYS' LTD through its sales and customer service manager Mr.Hakeem Ajala @ajalahakeem@yahoo.com.....cell: 08031813640 / 08132905001 / 08031813640

A pastor, Olufade Folayinmi, has reportedly committed suicide on Owakurudu Road, in the Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State.

It was learnt that 70-year-old Folayinmi was found hanging with a rope around his neck, dangling from a ceiling fan in his apartment last Monday.

Our correspondent gathered that some church members found the pastor at about 2pm and alerted policemen from the Igbeba division.

A source in the area said the pastor did not leave any suicide note.

She said, “It was a shocking discovery. The pastor was found hanging to the ceiling fan. Nobody knew why he took that action.

“The family and church members still rushed him to a nearby hospital, but the doctors confirmed him dead.”

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident. He added that the corpse had been released to the family after a post mortem.

He said, “The pastor was found hanging to the ceiling. The corpse has been released to the family after a post mortem. The case was handled by the policemen from Igbeba.”

Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

Can someone help me out.The operating system (window 7) of my packard bell easynote TE11BZ refuses to load.I have tried all tricks i can lay my hands on to prompt and reload the windows 7 all to no avail..I have no recovery disk to do it.I have visited their official website all i got is press ALT & repeatedly click F10 which doesn't add any value or prompt anything.The monitor remains blank.can someone help!!!

The definations and degrees of civilization vary according to perception,cultural values and environment.What we call western civilization and admire are just ways of life in their clime and it should not be adopted as parameters to conclude that Africans are backward.No no no..!it's not true.That is one fallacy Africans should reject outrightly.The pictures here are just too perfect becuase they represent the natural way of life of these people back then,when practically the way of life was very close to nature,when farming was 100% organic and there were no chemical in foods which causes cancer and other diseases that are prevalent today.Further more,Anthropologist and other reseachers in the fields of humanity have even come to conclusion that people of this time has higher quality of life than we the so called civilized people..Hence, these pictures are just too perfect and should be celebrated because they are reflection of our heritage,culture and civilazion as people who are very very very close to nature.Therefore,King Jaja of Opobo and his wives in these pictures are symbol of our civilization.There is absolutely nothing wrong with this picture.

A man from the Ivory Coast who allegedly attempted to smuggle his eight-year-old son into Europe inside a suitcase has been detained by a Spanish court.

Border guards stopped a 19-year-old Moroccan woman as she waited in line at a crossing in Ceuta, North Africa, on Thursday.

The woman was described as "nervous" and "indecisive" by the Guardia Civil and when the guards put her suitcase through a scanner they spotted the boy curled up inside.

Alfonso Cruzado, a spokesman for the Guardia Civil in Ceuta, told El Mundo newspaper: "I have been doing this for a long time and I have never seen such a grotesque and dramatic attempt to enter the country by a child.

"The scanner operators could never imagine that inside the suitcase there was a child."

The boy was disoriented and terrified, guards said. He told them his name was Adou was from the Ivory Coast.

Border officers detained the woman and the boy's father half an hour later after he arrived at the crossing with a permit to live in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

He was held on suspicion of human trafficking offences and is believed to have paid for his son to cross the border because he did not have the required documents.

The man was held without bail after appearing at the Superior Court of Andalusia on Friday.

Red Cross officials checked the boy but he was found to have been unhurt by the ordeal.

Spanish border officials deal with a number of migrants attempting to get from North Africa into Europe every year.

Many smuggle themselves on to ferries heading for Spain and then jump off close to the shore to avoid immigration barriers.

When the rich and the famous travel by air, they often pay to sit in the business/first class for the best comfort the jet can offer. Others pay less for the economy class. But some members of that upper class are now going for private jets to enjoy a higher level of privacy in the airplane.It costs pretty much to travel in a private jet but the comfort is worth the cost, according to designers of these luxury aircraft.An online travel news magazine, Daily Mail, says the super-rich splash about $90m on such luxury interiors. The exterior may look ordinary but the interior screams luxury with gold details. Casino suites, marble bathrooms and aquariums are some of the special features of modern private jets. “Our clients want us to dream, push the limits, and to be creative so that we can create for them a spectacular jet interior, says the Creative Director and Head of AirJet Designs, Jean-Pierre Alfano.

To customise a private jet

As in other luxury materials, people pay more to get their private jets customised. Alfano says the cost of a BBJ 1 aircraft is around $60m. The cost to fit out the interior will then be in the range of between $30m and $50m.The Director of Engineering, Cumlux America, a luxury jet maker, Daron Dryer, says the innovation is driven by the passenger’s desire to have an on board experience similar to their life on the ground.“Business jets have to incorporate new features and facilities in order to allow the passengers to keep their own way of living: Eating and cooking, body care, sport, entertainment, latest technology,” he says.He estimates that narrow-bodied planes can cost between $25m and $35m to customise, while wide-bodied aircraft – such as 757s and A380s – can cost around $90m just for the interiors.This possible explains the public outcry that greeted the report sometime last year about some religious leaders in Nigeria acquiring private jets.

Before then, a number of influential Nigerians including top business moguls such Alhaji Aliko Dangote, current and former governors had been listed among owners of the most expensive private jets in the country. some of them are Alhaji Dangote, (Bombardier Global Express); Chief Mike Adenuga, (Falcon 7X, Bombardier 604); Governor Rotimi Ameachi of Rivers State (Bombardier Global 6000); Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State (Gulfstream V); Pastor Enoch Adeboye (Gulfstream V); Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, (Bombardier jet) and Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor (Bombardier Challenger 604).Globally, a Saudi Arabian Prince, Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud, famous for his stable of private jets, arguably tops the list of people with the most expensive luxury jets with its modified Boeing 747, an Airbus 321 and an Airbus A380 – which normally seats 800 passengers but has been completely customised to his needs.According to Daily Mail, Alwaleed’s A380 is said to have a marble-finished Turkish bath, a garage for his Rolls-Royce and even a dedicated prayer area, in which computer-generated mats move to point towards Mecca.Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s Boeing 767-300 can seat up to 350, but as a private jet it can include exceptional high spec VIP luxury interiors, with options such as 30-seat dining room; boardroom, master bedrooms, luxury bathrooms with showers; and spacious living room, says the Chief Executive Officer, PrivateFly, Adam Twidell.Donald Trump’s $95m Boeing 757 is luxury personifed, complete with a double bed, spacious lounge with sofas, gold accents and even a marble bathroom.Brabus Private Aviation says on its website, “Our customers decide on many variables, for example how many passengers will be flying on board frequently. Subsequently, this leads to the amount of seats available, which is the basis for the allocation of the entire space in the cabin.”According to Alfano, there are new developments to make flying on a private jet even more comfortable for wealthy clients. Some of them are new technologies being introduced such as good sound insulation to reduce noise, especially in the sleeping area; clients want a fully equipped aircraft galley that will allow flight attendants to cook gourmet meals. Additionally, galley areas are receiving more design attention so that they are as beautiful to look at as they are functional.Showers in private jets have become a must-have item for aircraft that are of sufficient size. Having a shower on your aircraft is a great convenience for busy executives. Also, features usually seen in high-end hotels such as heated bathroom floors are becoming more popular.Alfano says, “The design is extremely important to clients now; they want to go beyond the overused beige or grey colour schemes typically used in business aircraft. They want to travel in stylish surroundings. They want the feeling of spaciousness, therefore, they are opting for a more open cabin design; they do not want a cramp feeling aircraft. They want a beautifully designed cabin that suits their taste and design preferences. Many clients use their aircraft for doing business, so the jet needs to reflect who they are and the image they wish to project to the world. Our clients use their private jets to increase productivity but also to entertain.“In private aircraft, a lot of attention is given to the design of the aircraft seats. We carefully consider the style, trim and materials. Also, in our chair design process we always involve the owners and we create a prototype before the end product is finished to ensure it is tailor-made to the liking and contours of the owner.”

…We’re sorting out professional, ethnical issues with them—Media AideBy Levinus NwabughioguABUJA—President-elect, General Mohammadu Buhari may have just started a revenge mission on the African Independent Television, AIT when, yesterday, the security men attached to him barred the station’s correspondent, Tinabeso Bebei from covering Buhari’s functions.Vanguard gathered that the directive was discreetly given to the correspondent by an official at the Defence House where the crew had gone to cover the visit of Cuban ambassador to Buhari.It was learned that Buhari’s family had raised security issues which prompted the ban.Confirming the issue, Buhari’s media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu said that such warning was given and may be revoked when some security and ethical issues were resolved with the station.He said: “AIT has been asked to stay aside based on security and family concerns. In addition, Buhari has decided that they will have to resolve some issues relating to issues of standard and ethics.“We will be talking with them to try and resolve the matter, but for now the station has been asked to stay aside, because like I said there are some family and security concerns. They have been asked to step down their coverage until we resolve the matter with them on ethics and standards.”When asked whether he should be quoted, Shehu said, “yes you can quote me that I said we have asked them to step aside and that we are resolving the issues of ethics and standards with them.”He, however, stated that the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, was not involved in the ban, saying the crew was at liberty to attend any official engagements of the President-elect.Meanwhile, there were feelings that Buhari’s ban of AIT came against the background of the hate documentaries and campaign messages played on the station’s network during the polls.Source:http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/hate-campaign-buhari-fights-back-bars-ait-from-covering-activities/

According to Yahoo News, the man was bragging about how Louis van Gaal's side would humilate Arsenal in the cup clash, but goals from Nacho Monreal and former United player Danny Welbeck sealed the Gunners' passage to the semi-finals at Wembley.

Money, credit cards and identification were all recovered from his wallet after his body was found, with the Mombasa government tweeting an image of the man's body on Friday morning.

Suicides have become particular prevalent in football hotspots of Africa over the past few years.

In 2009 an Arsenal fan hanged himself after his team lost 3-1 to Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final while in December 2013 another Kenyan jumped from the seventh floor of a building after learning that Manchester Unied had lost to Newcastle United that same day.

Universities in the UK, including Oxford and Cambridge, have risen in international rankings published by the Times Higher Education. Check out the full table hereBritish universities have climbed up world reputation rankings, according to the latest table published by Times Higher Education (THE), with Oxford and Cambridge passing big US names to make it to the top spots just after Harvard.The table shows 12 UK universities made it into the top 100, up from 10 the year before, thanks to the universities of Durham and Warwick.Cambridge and Oxford each rose two places to reach second and third place respectively, overtaking the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.Harvard has retained first place in the ranking as the world's most prestigious university since rankings began in 2011Top 100 world universities by reputation 20151. Harvard University, United States2. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom3. University of Oxford, United Kingdom4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States5. Stanford University, United States6. University of California, Berkeley, United States7. Princeton University, United States8. Yale University, United States9. California Institute of Technology, United States10. Columbia University, United States11. University of Chicago, United States12. University of Tokyo, Japan13. University of California, Los Angeles, United States14. Imperial College London, United Kingdom15. ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland16. University of Toronto, Canada17. University College London, United Kingdom8. Johns Hopkins University, United States19. University of Michigan, United States=20. New York University, United States=20. Cornell University, United States22. London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom23. University of Pennsylvania, United States24. National University of Singapore, Singapore25. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation26. Tsinghua University, China27. Kyoto University, Japan28. Carnegie Mellon University, United States29. University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom30. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States31. King’s College London, United Kingdom32. Peking University, China33. University of Washington, United States34. Duke University, United States=35. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany=35. McGill University, Canada37. University of British Columbia, Canada=38. Heidelberg University, Germany=38. University of California, San Francisco, United States=38. University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States=41. University of California, San Diego, United States=41. University of Melbourne, Australia=41. Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany44. University of California, Davis, United States45. Karolinska Institute, Sweden46. University of Texas at Austin, United States47. Northwestern University, United States48. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland49. Georgia Institute of Technology, United States50. University of Manchester, United Kingdom51-60 Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumUniversity of Sydney, AustraliaAustralian National University, AustraliaPanthéon-Sorbonne University – Paris 1, FranceParis-Sorbonne University – Paris 4, FranceSeoul National University, Republic of KoreaUniversity of Hong Kong, Hong KongFree University of Berlin, GermanyDelft University of Technology, NetherlandsUniversity of Amsterdam, NetherlandsUniversity of São Paulo, BrazilTechnical University of Munich, Germany61-70École Normale Supérieure, FrancePennsylvania State University, United StatesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, United StatesNational Taiwan University, TaiwanWageningen University and Research Center, NetherlandsUniversity of Southern California, United StatesLeiden University, NetherlandsUniversity of North Carolina, United States71-80Purdue University, United StatesUtrecht University, NetherlandsNational Autonomous University of Mexico, MexicoRutgers, the State University of New Jersey, United StatesHong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong KongBrown University, United StatesBoston University, United StatesUniversity of Pittsburgh, United StatesMichigan State University, United StatesUniversity of Minnesota, United StatesSaint Petersburg State University, Russian Federation1-90Durham University, United KingdomUppsala University, SwedenUniversity of Helsinki, FinlandUniversity of Copenhagen, DenmarkUniversity of Queensland, AustraliaOhio State University, United StatesWashington University in St Louis, United StatesUniversity of Warwick, United KingdomTexas A&M University, United States91-100École Polytechnique, FranceRWTH Aachen University, GermanyUniversity of Maryland, College Park, United StatesMayo Medical School, United StatesNanyang Technological University, SingaporeLondon Business School, United KingdomUniversity of Massachusetts, United StatesMonash University, AustraliaPasteur Institute, FranceUniversity of Bristol, United Kingdom

The girl, who was identified as Zahra’u Babangida, was arrested in Kano on December 10 following a double suicide bombing in a market that killed 10 people.

She was presented to journalists by police and instructed to recount how Islamist militants allegedly forced her to take part in the attack.

She said her mother and father, both Boko Haram sympathisers, took her to an insurgent hideout in a forest near the town of Gidan Zana in Kano state.She said one alleged militant leader asked her whether she knew what a suicide bombing was.

“They said, ‘Can you do it?’ I said no.“They said, ‘You will go to heaven if you do it.’ I said ‘No I can’t.’ They said they would shoot me or throw me into a dungeon,” Zahra’u told journalists.

There was no way to independently verify her story and she had no lawyer present. No information was available concerning the whereabouts of her parents.

Police said they had instructed the girl to tell her story to boost public awareness about those responsible for the December 10 attack.

Faced with the threat of death, Zahra’u said she finally agreed to take part in the attack but “never had any intention of doing it.”

Several days later, Zahra’u said, she and three other girls, all wearing explosives, were brought to the Kantin Kwari market by unidentified men.

Zahra’u said she was injured when one of the girls detonated her bomb and then she fled the scene, ending up at a hospital on the outskirts of Kano where she was discovered to be carrying explosives.

Boko Haram has increasingly used female suicide bombers, including teenagers, as part of their five-year insurgency.

Kano, the largest city in the mainly Muslim north, saw four such attacks in one week in July, while similar bombings have hit the states of Bauchi and Niger.

Experts say the group has used girls as bombers to demonstrate the range of tactics they have available to sow fear across Nigeria.

If confirmed, Zahra’u’s story would be the first known case of parents volunteering their daughter to take part in a deadly attack.Violence in northern Nigeria has intensified in recent months, raising security fears ahead of February 14 elections.

Robbers in Guinea attack van they thought was carrying money but instead, found cooler of blood containing Ebola.

Armed bandits in Guinea have stolen a batch of blood samples infected with the deadly Ebola virus which were being delivered to a test centre, the Daily Mail of UK reported.

The robbers held up a minibus near the town of Kissidougou which was transporting the samples from central Kankan prefecture to the test site 165 miles away in southern Gueckedou.

The blood was stored in a sealed cooler and was being escorted by four Red Cross officials. It is believed the bandits had no idea what it was they were stealing and may have thought there was cash hidden inside the cooler.

Guinea authorities publicly appealed on national radio to the unidentified robbers to hand over the stolen samples that are understood to have been taken from a single person.

The theft underscores how hazards abound and hiccups remain in the aid response, despite millions of dollars’ worth of international support pouring into West Africa to fight a virus now responsible for more than 5,000 deaths.

Guinea Red Cross press officer, Faya Etienne Tolno, explained that the Guinea Red Cross did not have its own vehicles for transport, which explains why a taxi was commissioned.

“We don’t understand why they stole the blood sample. Perhaps they thought there was cash hidden in the flask,” Tolno said.

Dr. Barry Moumie, who heads patient care for the national Ebola response coordination committee, told The Associated Press: “We have informed the security services. If these thieves handle this blood, it will be dangerous.

“I can assure you, however, that the sample-transportation procedures will now be strengthened to avoid such disappointments,” he said.

Ebola, which has killed more than 5,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, is spread primarily by contact with infected bodily fluids including blood, faeces and vomit.

On Thursday, a doctor in Mali died of Ebola after treating an imam who also succumbed to the disease, taking the total toll in the west African country up to seven, health authorities said.

The World Health Organisation said the virus was “almost certainly re-introduced into Mali by a 70-year-old Grand Imam from Guinea, who was admitted to Bamako’s Pasteur clinic on 25 October and died on 27 October.”

The doctor had been undergoing treatment for Ebola for nearly two weeks, according to the health ministry.

A total of five infections, all of which have proved fatal, were now linked to the imam.

As well as the doctor, they include a male nurse who cared for the imam at the Pasteur clinic, and a 51-year-old friend who came to visit the imam.

A two-year-old girl also died from the disease last month in an unconnected case in the western town of Kayes.

The health ministry said a total of 303 people were under surveillance and had their temperatures taken twice a day.

The Malian government had on Wednesday cited a figure of 413 people being monitored.

The WHO said Wednesday 5,420 people have died from Ebola in the current outbreak, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Meanwhile, a Cuban doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone has arrived in Switzerland for treatment.

The Swiss news agency, SDA, reported on Friday that Felix Baez Sarria arrived on a flight overnight and was transported in a specially outfitted ambulance with a police escort to Geneva University Hospital.

Geneva Canton Dr. Jacques-Andre Romand told the news agency that the 43-year-old Baez was able to disembark the plane on his own, and wore a protective suit and mask.

The doctor’s treatment in Switzerland was organized by the World Health Organisation.

Cuba sent a 165-member medical team to Sierra Leone to help in the fight against the Ebola epidemic.

The World Health Organisation declared on Friday that an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo was over after no people showed symptoms for two incubation periods since the last case.

The outbreak was separate from the one spreading in West Africa,

“Having reached that 42-day mark, the Democratic Republic of Congo is now considered free of Ebola transmission,” the WHO said in a statement.

There were 49 deaths out of 66 people infected in the remote northwestern Equateur province, authorities said last week.

The cost of building many government houses in Nigeria is far higher than what it takes to build many universities in the country with some state houses gulping as high as nine times more than the cost of building a university, Saturday PUNCH investigation has shown.

It was also discovered that in many states where billions of naira were expended on building bogus and expansive state houses for the first families, universities owned by such state governments were in terrible conditions.

In addition to this, many programmes run by these state universities are yet to be accredited by the National Universities Commission, the regulatory agency for universities in Nigeria, due to lack of fund.

To accredit a programme for study in any university in Nigeria, there are minimum acceptable standards required by the NUC. They include availability of adequate facilities to run the programme as well as minimum number of staff both academic and non-academic.A former Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof Peter Okebukola, said, ‘’The requirements are essentially facilities and staff. Both need money to put in place. However, in the case of staff, a long-term investment is needed to procure quality staff.’’

Depending on the number of programmes to be accredited, accreditation of courses, according to him, could gulp between N1.8bn and N2.7bn with science-based courses gulping more money than non-science based courses.But Saturday PUNCH investigations showed that some states that could hardly afford to spend as low as N800m on accreditation in their universities, spent billions of naira to build state houses for their families.In Bayelsa State for instance, a Government House Complex named “The Glory Land Castle” gulped at least N24bn. The edifice, located in the heart of Yenagoa, the state capital, was initiated by former governors Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and Timipre Sylva.

The same state has begun the construction of a new Governor’s Office project at Government House, Yenagoa, at a cost of N3.8bn according to the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.

Justifying the cost of the project, he described the impressive edifice as one of the best in Nigeria and West Africa with a captivating aesthetic ambience.Paradoxically, there is high level of infrastructural decay at the Niger Delta University being run by the state government.

The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Niger Delta University branch, Dr. Tuboukiye Sese, told one of our correspondents on the telephone during the week that lack of infrastructure had been the major problem of the university.

Sese said, “Honestly, the state of infrastructure at NDU is nothing to write home about. Successive administrations in the state have been neglecting the school.

“When the incumbent governor, Seriake Dickson, paid a visit to the university recently, he saw things for himself. The structures in the permanent site of the institution are those provided by TETFUND (Tertiary Education Trust Fund). The governor then awarded contract worth N1.2bn. Unfortunately, up till now, nothing has been done.“In the university, internal roads are non-existent, office space is a sad development and student hostels are in poor state.”

He lamented that due to absence of staff quarters, academic and non-academic workers alike operate from Yenagoa, the state capital, a journey of close to one hour.

Though he could not be specific on the number of programmes in the university that are yet to be accredited, he recalled that many of the university’s programmes were not accredited during the last accreditation exercise.

He said, “We lost quite a number of our programmes during accreditation. This development is giving us cause for concern. As it is, many lecturers risk losing their jobs because of the development as students will not want to go to a school where most of their programmes are not accredited.

“The state government should help us in this direction. The university’s management is running round the clock and using its initiative to ensure the de-accredited courses are accredited.”

In the same vein, the Kaduna State Government has just completed a N9.6bn new Kaduna Government House/ Office Complex that was recently inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan. The state Governor, Alhaji mukhtar Ramalan Yero, said the project was executed in six phases.But shortly after the inauguration, medical students of Kaduna State University stormed the street to protest the non-accreditation of the institution’s medical courses by the NUC. They also protested poor conditions at the Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, which is supposed to be the university’s teaching hospital.The protesting students lamented that the Faculty of Medicine started since 2008/09 academic session and none of the students had gone beyond 300 levels. According to them, the hospital’s ICU/dialysis centre has been abandoned; the pathology laboratory is not supplied with equipment; and all other works in various departments are moving at a very slow pace.The spokesperson for the Medical Students Association, Hassan Abu, who called on the state government to address the problem urgently, said a set of medical students had been transferred to Uganda to complete their studies due to inadequate facility at the Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital.

The story is similar in Akwa Ibom State where the government constructed a State House with a sum of N16bn and a Banquet Hall with 500 seating capacity with the sum of N18bn. In other words, N34bn was spent on constructing a state house and banquet hall, according to the state Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Enobong Idem.It was learnt that the state government only released N1.5bn for construction projects, expansion and renovation of academic blocks, including the acquisition of laboratory equipment in the university.

The government was said to have set up a task force headed by the Commissioner for Education, Prof Atim Antai, to execute the projects and guarantee their timely completion.

The NUC between July and August accredited only 11 courses in the institution’s Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences. Some of the courses are Physics, Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Geology. Others are Marine Biology, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Botany and Zoology.Apart from the Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences, the university also runs courses in other faculties like Business Administration, Arts, and Education, among others. But none of these other courses which are over 40 have been accredited.

While Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, in 2012 said his administration would spend N6bn on the building of a new Government House, Ekiti State former governor Kayode Fayemi borrowed N3.3bn to build a state house.

Both governors justified the huge investment in building the state houses on the need to build befitting edifices for their states. Uduaghan had said, “The current Government House in Asaba has always been a temporary arrangement, not a permanent feature. But we cannot continue to live in a temporary accommodation. We have to do the right thing and do it well.’’

But it was learnt that as of the time Fayemi spent N3.3bn on the state house, the state university was in terrible condition.

According to the Student Union Government President of Ekiti State University, Babatope Ibitola, the institution lacks basic laboratory equipment. He said, “We still lack lecture theatres because the available ones are not sufficient. Our core sciences lack laboratory apparatus except the College of Medicine which is well equipped.” He appealed to the state government to hasten the accreditation process of the college of medicine.

New Kaduna Govt houseNew Kaduna Govt house

Investigations by Saturday PUNCH also showed that while it was convenient for states to budget billions of naira to build state houses, governments did not make such bogus budgetary allocations towards establishment of new universities.

For instance, the Federal Government provided just N2bn, about a quarter of what should ordinarily be needed, for the take-off of each of the nine universities it established three years ago.

President Goodluck Jonathan approved N18bn for the nine universities. The sum was among others to assist them in developing their campuses as well as providing administrative blocks, libraries and Information Communications Technology centres. The nine federal universities are located in Jigawa, Katsina, Gombe, Nasarawa, Kogi, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Ekiti and Taraba states.

Providing insight into what it would cost to establish a new university, the Registrar, Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Mr. Omololu Adegbenro, said a minimum of N7bn is required to establish a standard university in Nigeria.

According to him, one of the NUC’s demands from promoters of private universities is that they must have 102 hectares of land. Adegbenro said, “This alone is expensive to acquire. Even if you are starting with two faculties, you will need to construct the faculty buildings. You need at least two halls of residence for the students; one for female and one for male.

“You will also need to build a cafeteria, a library, administrative complex, banking halls, road networks and provide Information Technology facilities, among others. These are huge projects and that is why you need a minimum of N7bn to set up a good private university in Nigeria.

New Ekiti Govt houseNew Ekiti Govt house

“You will also need to start with at least four professors; the principal officers and other personnel are also there. The NUC also requires that you must have at least N500m in your account before takeoff.”

A former NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Peter Okebukola, said though there was no minimum amount specified in the commission’s guidelines for setting up a standard university, there are minimum facilities and human resources that should be available before a university is licensed.

According to him, the minimum amount to set up a university can be estimated from the cost of such facilities and resources. He said the amount was N3bn in 2003, but it is about N5.5bn now.

He, however, said Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State; Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State; American University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa State; and Afe Babalola University had a cost range of between N7bn and N12bn at take-off.

The former NUC executive secretary, however, said it would cost more to accredit science-based courses than non-science courses.

He said, “If we have an admixture of the two which is the typical scenario in most universities, the cost can range between N1.8bn and N2.7bn if the programmes are to be elevated from the denied status.

“In 2004, Kogi State University spent about N900m to get about 20 of its programmes re-accredited. In 2014, a number of universities seeking re-accreditation for about 20 courses are asking their proprietors for about N1.5bn.”

Okebukola, however, blamed the governors’ preference for luxury at the expense of investment in education on members of their state Houses of Assembly who approved money for giant Government Houses.

He said, “Education is a potent tool for fast-paced development and investment in the sector should never be made secondary to luxury. No governor will start using tax payers’ money to build a giant Government House without approval by members of his state House of Assembly who are the representatives of the people.

“The greater concern is not the governor who spends the people’s money on a structure in his state, but those who steal the money to build giant structures in Dubai, the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa, among others.’’

The Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Lagos, Prof. (Mrs.) Mopelola Omoegun, said, “According to the NUC, it will cost a minimum of N9bn to build a standard university in the country and I think it is not fair for governors to spend almost same amount to build their lodges.

“The state of education in this country will continue to fall if there is no adequate funding. We have been talking about this all the time. What is the root of the falling standard of education? It is inadequate funding. There is need for adequate funding. If our governors will play their politics right, they have to fund this sector well even if they have to sacrifice their comfort for the benefit of all. They should make it viable.

“Some of the state institutions are the direct victims of this menace. That is why it may be difficult to even establish new higher institutions in such states. To all the governors, provide facilities and funds, and we will get the results we want,” she added.

INDICATIONS emerged at the weekend that presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC); Atiku Abubakar would simply be contented with N1 as his annual salary if he emerges the President of the country.

Already, the former Vice President may have accepted in principle the recommendations of a memo on the subject, ahead of the Policy Retreat Review at the Obasanjo Presidential Library, which gets underway Monday.

The decision, according to The Guardian’s source is predicated on the avowed commitment of the leading APC presidential to “give back to Nigeria for all that the country has done for him.”

Atiku had at the declaration of his intent to contest the 2015 presidential election said he would continue to give back to Nigeria for as long as he is able and capable.

The source confided in The Guardian that the balance of the salary that would have accrued to Atiku Abubakar should he emerge as President will be deployed to people-oriented charities of his choice.

“I believe that Turaki may be considering taking a token salary of N1 not because he is endowed like so many others but to underscore his preparedness to make personal sacrifices in the quest to rebuild and reinvent our dear country and by so doing engender a culture of sacrifice in his envisaged administration,” the source said.

However, when contacted Mallam Garba Shehu, Coordinator of Atiku Media Office said he was unaware of this development. He, however, said that nothing is off the table at the policy review retreat.

Meanwhile, the Policy Review Retreat promised by Atiku at the unveiling of his economic policy in Abuja October 15 kicks off on Monday at the Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta the Ogun State capital.